This collection of new essays examines the representation of the female self in recent novels written by Spanish women. The essays explore the myriad ways in which women’s struggle with self-definition and self-fulfillment is contemplated in Spain during a time in which democracy has taken hold and women’s rights have taken shape. Authors covered include Carmen Martín Gaite, Josefina Aldecoa, Rosa Montero, Dulce Chacón, Clara Sánchez, Lucia Etxebarria, Care Santos, Eugenia Rico, Espido Freire, and others.

Kyra A. Kietrys is an assistant professor of Spanish at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina.

Montserrat Linares is an associate professor of Spanish at Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania.

Edited by Kyra A. Kietrys and Montserrat Linares

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 232
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2009
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4354-3
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5319-1
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction: Reflecting the Self
Kyra A. Kietrys and Montserrat Linares      1

PART I. POSTWAR WRITERS
Carmen Martín Gaite’s Irse de casa or the Metafictional Creation of the Self
Vilma Navarro-Daniels      9
Space and the Construction of the Self in the Narratives of Josefina Aldecoa
Carmen T. Sotomayor      21

PART II. GENERATION OF THE TRANSITION TO DEMOCRACY
Historia de un abrigo: Women’s Search for an Anchor in the Modern World
Joanne Lucena      39
Naturalism and the Self in Rosa Montero’s La hija del caníbal
Ellen Mayock      57
Women, War, and Words in La voz dormida by Dulce Chacón
Kathryn Everly      77
The Wounded Self and Body in Dulce Chacón’s Algún amor que no mate: A Haunting Discourse
Esther Raventós-Pons      93
Female Characters in the Novels of Clara Sánchez: Reflection and Mirage
Mary Ann Dellinger      113

PART III. NEW WRITERS OF THE 1990S
Looking for the Other: Peninsular Women’s Fiction after Levinas
Nina L. Molinaro      133
Revaluing the Mother in Lucía Etxebarria’s Un milagro en equilibrio
Sandra J. Schumm      153
Negotiating Girlhood: Mediating Bodies and Identities in Novels by Care Santos
Parissa Tadrissi      171
The Elusive Self in Eugenia Rico’s La muerte blanca
Kyra A. Kietrys      191
Fragmented Identities: The Narrative World of Espido Freire
Montserrat Linares      205

About the Contributors      219
Index      221

“highly recommended”—Choice.